Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Hualalai Course | Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii | January 13-18, 2020

Second-Round Notes Friday, January 17, 2020

Course Setup: Par 72 / 7,107 yards (R2 scoring average: 70.500) Weather: A weak front will arrive at the Big Island around noon. A few scattered showers will be possible between 9am-1pm with clearing skies expected late afternoon. Winds will shift to the NW and gust over 20mph after 4pm. Purse: $1,800,000 (Winner: $310,000) Media Contact: Laura Vescovi (904-465-5924)

Rank Player To Par Scores 1. Woody Austin -11 33-35 – 68 2. -10 37-33 – 70 T3. -9 33-35 – 68 T3. Miguel Ángel Jiménez -9 37-34 – 71

Quick Links • Leaderboard • Final-round starting times

Woody Austin, 65-68—133 (-11) • Woody Austin posted rounds of 65-68—133 (11-under) and will take a one-shot lead over World Golf Hall of Fame member Bernhard Langer entering Saturday’s final round at Hualalai Golf Course. He is making his fourth career start at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, where he has yet to post a single top-10 finish. The longtime resident of Derby, Kansas, will celebrate his 56th birthday on January 27. • This marks the first outright 36-hole lead of Austin’s PGA TOUR Champions career. He held a share of the 36-hole lead at the 2019 SAS Championship before a final-round 71 left him T3 for the week. • Austin owns four career wins on the PGA TOUR and four on PGA TOUR Champions. He won all four of his Champions Tour titles by one shot or less, including his last at the 2018 Dominion Energy Charity Classic, where he defeated Langer by one shot. Three of his four TOUR victories came via a playoff. • Should Austin win on Saturday, he would join Langer and Miguel Ángel Jiménez as the only players to win both the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and the Mitsubishi Electric Classic, contested each April at TPC Sugarloaf near Atlanta. On Wednesday, PGA TOUR Champions and Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc., announced a five-year title sponsor extension for both events. • Austin’s solid play thus far at Hualalai is a continuation of a stellar finish to his 2019 PGA TOUR Champions campaign, where he notched eight top-10s in his final 12 starts, including five top-5 finishes.

Bernhard Langer, 64-70 – 134 (-10) • First-round co-leader (64) Bernhard Langer posted a second-round 70 to finish 36 holes at 10-under par. The World Golf Hall of Fame member will be paired with leader Woody Austin during Saturday’s final round. • Langer is a three-time winner of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai (2009, 2014, 2017) and is the tournament’s all-time money leader with $1,571,450 in earnings. He has recorded each of his 37 career rounds in the event at par or better. • Langer will be 62 years, 4 months and 22 days on Saturday. Should he win, he’d become the fifth-oldest winner in PGA TOUR Champions history: o (63 years, 5 months, 4 days), 2019 Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge o Mike Fetchick (63 years to the day), 1985 Hilton Head Seniors Invitational o (62 years, 10 months, 7 days), 2016 Toshiba Classic o (62 years, 9 months, 22 days), 1998 Northville Long Island Classic • The 62-year-old is eyeing a fourth career Mitsubishi Electric Championship title on Saturday. If he captures a win in Saturday’s final round, the MEC at Hualalai will be the third tournament he has won four times: o 2007, 2008, 2014, 2018 Insperity Invitational o 2010, 2014, 2017, 2019

Fred Couples, 67-68 – 135 (-9) • After rounds of 67-68—135 (9-under), World Golf Hall of Fame member Fred Couples will enter the final round at T3, two shots back of Austin. In 2019, he was inside the top five entering the final round of a PGA TOUR Champions event three times, but failed to convert any of those opportunities into victory – Rapiscan Systems Classic (T3, finished T17), (1st, finished T3) and Invesco QQQ Championship (T2, finished T8). • In 31 career rounds at this tournament, Couples has yet to post a round over par. His final-round scoring average of 66.56 includes rounds of 66 in each of the last four years the final round was contested (tournament was shortened to 36 holes in 2017). • Couples’ history at Hualalai is stellar, with eight top-10 finishes in 10 career starts, including runner-up efforts in 2010, 2014 and 2017. He ranks fifth on the tournament’s all-time money list ($1,067,500.00) and is the highest-ranked player on that list without a victory.

Ernie Els, 72-65 – 137 (-7) • World Golf Hall of Fame member , making his PGA TOUR Champions debut this week, was 6- under through seven holes before finishing with a second-round 65 on Friday, marking the low round of the day. During his PGA TOUR career, Els won three times in Hawaii, including the 2003 Sentry Tournament of Champions, 2003 and 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii. Tomorrow will mark 16 years to the day since his Sony Open win in 2004, where he defeated Harrison Frazar with a birdie on the third playoff hole. • Should Els win tomorrow, it will have been 7 years, 5 months and 27 days since his last victory in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event, the 2012 Open Championship. • There have been 18 players to win in their PGA TOUR Champions debuts, with Miguel Ángel Jiménez being the last to do so at the 2014 Mitsubishi Electric Classic. • Els and Doug Barron are the only two players in the field making their first career starts at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. Ten players have won in their tournament debut at Hualalai: (2018), Duffy Waldorf (2016), Miguel Ángel Jiménez (2015), (2006), John Jacobs (1999), John Bland (1996), (1990), (1988), Peter Thomson (1985) and (1984). Of those winners, Kelly and Roberts were the only players who didn’t own at least a share of the lead entering the final round. • Just one eagle was made in the 38-man field during the second-round, posted by Els on the par-5 7th hole.

Tournament Notes: • Thursday’s co-leader Miguel Ángel Jiménez opened Friday’s round with a birdie on the par-4 1st hole but went on to record three bogeys on the front nine en route to posting a 71, falling behind on the lead by two strokes. • In the 36-year history of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, the player(s) who are leading or tied for the lead after 36 holes have gone on to win the tournament 25 times, including five of the last six years: Jerry Kelly (2018), Bernhard Langer (2017, 2014), Duffy Waldorf (2016) and Miguel Ángel Jiménez (2015). • Over the last 14 years, the tournament winner has come from the final pairing 13 times. The exception during this stretch was in 2011 (second-to-last pairing). • Entering Saturday’s final round at Hualalai, there are 11 players within 5 shots of the lead. The largest come- from-behind win in this tournament came in 2005 when Dana Quigley rallied from four strokes back to defeat 36-hole leader in a playoff, and last year when overcame a four-shot deficit to beat in regulation. • There have been four playoffs in tournament history: 1987 ( def. Butch Baird), 1995 ( def. Jim Albus), 2005 (Dana Quigley def. Tom Watson) and 2013 (John Cook def. ). • The toughest hole of the round was the par-3 8th, where just one birdie was recorded () in the 38- man field for an average of 3.342. Conversely, the easiest hole was the par-5 14th with a scoring average of 4.500 and 20 birdies made throughout the round. • Defending champion Tom Lehman duplicated his first round 71 and is T27 (-2). • A win at this event has been instrumental over the years in earning a berth in the top 30 on the final money list. (1994) and Miguel Ángel Jiménez (2015) are the only past champions who didn’t end up among the top-30 money winners at the end of the season. Both players made just six starts in each respective year. The top 36 players following the will advance to the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the third and final event in the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs.